Ho.  45, 

THE       - 


GREAT  DAY  OF  WRATH  AND  OF  GLORY. 


BY  REV,  JOHN    S.  LONG 


One  night,  many  years  ago,  when  locked  in  the  em» 
braces  of  slumber,  I  had  a  dream ;  a  dream  that  was  most 
fearful  ;  a  dream  that  shook  me  like  an  ague,  and  thrilled 
me  with  wonder,  It  seemed  to  me,  that  the  citizens  of 
my  native  town  were  all  assembled  on  some  public  oeea= 
sion  in  the  Academy*  and  on  the  Academy  green-  The 
day  Yforc  on  amid  the  iocreasing  excitements  of  the  festi- 
val. Every  one  looked  in  the  face  of  his  neighbor.  Knd 
found  {here  nothing  but  gladness  and  security,  I.  my- 
self, although  but  a  boy,  felt  the"  "strange,  magnetic  influ- 
ence  of  the  scene ;  a  scene  that  was  created  for  older 
heads  and  hearts  than  mine.  It  was  now  almost  the  hour 
of  twilight,  when  suddenly  a  cry,  a  shriek  was  heard.— 
Every  membsr  of  the  crowded' audience  within  the •ho»ee 
rushed  to  the  doors,  where  such  a  sight  presented  ijbe'tf 
as  I  shall  not  forget  to  my  dying  day. 

The  whole  heavens,  from  one  extremity  to  the  other, 
Were  in  a  vivid  blaze.  F.  :b  y  countenance  was  pallid,  and 
every  eye   turned    npw%i.     The  exclamation  went  from 


lip  to  lip,  "  the  judgement. "  I  stood  and  gazed  upward 
with  the  spectators.  Great  oceans  of  flame  seemed  spread 
out  above  us,  which  opened  occasionally  to  display  greater 
seas  of  fire  far,  far  away  in  the  distance.  Then  there 
would  come  sullen  mutterings  of  thunder.  The  earth 
shook,  the  heavens  shook,  every  thing  shook.  I  watched 
the  furious  element  as  never  consuming  it  still  reached 
upward,  higher,  and  higher  still.  Every  cloud  flamed, 
and  floated  on.  Every  star  blazed  and  sent  its  lurid  radi- 
ance to  the  scene.  The  vast  dome  of  the  universe  was 
wrapped  in  fire,  and  not  a  single  atom  of  the  physical  cre- 
ation above  us  seemed  to  have  escaped.  I  felt  cold,  very 
cold.  My  very  heart  seemed  to  have  frozen  with  terror. 
I  looked  upon  the  citizens  around  me.  They  were  speech- 
less. The  great  day  of  His  wrath  had  come,  and  they 
were  not  able  to  stand.  Old,  grey-headed  men  were 
speechless )  young  men  and  maidens  were  speechless  ; 
merchants,  mechanics  and  husbandmen  were  speechless  \ 
lawyers,  physicians  and  teachers  were  speechless.  The 
hour  of  doom  had  struck,  and  the  people  were  not  ready. 
While  these  stupenduous  events  were  transpiring  around 
and  above  me,  a  kind,  of  stupefaction  seemed  to  have  set- 
tled upon  my  senses.  Until  at  last  being  irresistably 
drawn  to  look  upward  again,  #a  still  grander  scene  opened 
upon  my  view.  From  the  very  midst  of  the  heavens  a 
great  white  throne  descended.  Upon  it  sat  one  like  unto 
the  Son  of  God.  His  faee  beamed  with  glory,  and  his  head 
was  crowned  with  splendors.  Nearer  and  nearer  the 
throne  came,  until  at  length  it  was  arrested  in  the  void 
just  above  us.  And  now,  strange  to  relate,  a  minister,  at 
that  time  stationed  in  the  town,  came  to  me,took  me  tenderly 
by  the  hand,  and,  pointing  to  the  great  white  throne,  said. 
"farewell,  I  must  go."  He  left  me,  walked  deliberately 
to  what  seemed  to  me  to  be  steps  leading  up  to  the  throne, 
entered  calmly  upon  the  awful  ascent,  and  disappeared 


In  the  meantime  the  attention  of  all  the  spectators  was 
turned  to  another  exciting  act  in  the  awful  drama.  While 
the  firmament  was  melting  with  fervent  heat,  and  rapid- 
shocks  of  thunder  were  making  the  earth  to  stagger  un- 
der us  like  a  drunken  man,  I  became  conscious  of  the 
presence  of  a  new  terror,  and  Was  borne  swiftly  to  the  rear 
of  my  position.  When  I  reached  that  point,  I  was  still 
more  fearfully  impressed,  if  possible,  than  hitherto.  Very 
near  me  was  a  wide  and  deep  pit,  around  which  stood  sev- 
eral persons  whose  faces  were  perfectly  familiar  to  me. 
and  they  were  engaged  in  seizing  every  one  upon  whom 
they  could  lay  their  hands,  and  casting  them  into  this  pit. 
They  struggled  to  reach  me.  They  had  their  emissaries 
everywhere  among  the  multitude.  Some  they  seized 
suddenly,  and  like  a  flash  of  lightning.  Others  they  ap- 
proached deliberately,  and  charmed  them  as  the  snake 
fastens  upon  its  victim.  There  was  a  start,  a  cry,  a  dash, 
and  the  mouth  of  the  pit  closed  over  the  convulsed  suffer- 
er. I  needed  no  one  to  tell  me  that  this  pit  was  hell,  and 
these  men  devils.  It  was  written  in  its  jaws,  upon  their 
faces,  everywhere.  At  last  I  could  bear  the  terrible  pres- 
sure of  the  excitement  of  this  dream  no  longer,  and  awoke. 

Reader,  I  have  set  down  the  principal  facts  of  this  dream 
with  the  utmost  accuracy,  that  I  could  command  at  this 
distance  of  time.  And  I  desire  to  make  them  the  intro- 
duction to  some  earnest  suggestions  on  the  Great  Day  of 
G-od's  Wrath  and  Q-lory.  May  the  Spirit  take  these  sug- 
gestions, and  apply  them  to  your  conscience  very  savingly . 

And  at  the  outset  we  inquire,  will  there  be  such  a  day. 
Hear  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures.  "He  hath  appointed 
a  dav,  in  the  which  he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteous- 
ness by  that  man  whom  he  hath  ordained."  "  It  is  ap- 
pointed unto  men  once  to  die,  but  after  this  the  judgment/' 
"For  we  shall  all  stand  before  the  judgment  seat  of 
Christ."     "  Rejoice,  0  young  man,  in  thy  youth,  and  let 


thy  heart  cheer  thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  and  walk 
in  the  ways  of  thine  heart,  and  in  the  sight  of  thine  eyes, 
but  know  thou,  that  for  all  these  things  Grod  will  bring 
thee  into  judgment."  "But  the  day  of  the  Lord  will 
come  as  a  thief  in  the  night  \  in  which  the  heavens  shall 
pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt 
with  fervent  heat,  and  the  earth  and  the  works  that  are 
therein  shall  be  burned  up."  "  Therefore  be  ye  also 
ready :  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not  the  Son  of 
Man  cometh."  "Behold,  he  cometh  with  clouds;  and 
every  eye  shall  see  him,  and  they  also  which  pierced  him: 
and  ail  kindreds  of  the  earth  shall  wail  because  of  him." 
£l  When  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come  in  his  Grlory,  and  all 
the  holy  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne 
of  his  glory  :  and  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations." 
Can  such  words  be  mistaken.  Are  they  not  like  the  trees, 
hills  and  rivers  which  a  man  looks  at.  Are  they  not  like 
the  winds,  voices  and  melodies  which  he  hears.  Are  they 
not  like  the  pangs,  pleasures  and  ecstacies  which  he  feelsj 
Yea,  verily.  -We  had  as  well  stand  with  our  senses  all  in 
free  and  vigorous  exercise,  and  say  that  the  material  uni- 
verse with  its  mountains,  streams,  harmonies,  joys  and 
pains  has  vanished,  as  to  fall  upon  our  knees  before  Good's 
living  inspiration,  and  deny  the  verity  of  the  great,  "burn- 
ing, transforming  day  of  human  accountability.  Depend 
upon  it,  it  comes. 

This  day  shall  be  marked  -by  judicial  activity  and  firm- 
ness. And  what  is  most  startling,  Christ  who  is  now  the 
mediator,  shall  then  be  the  judge.  Oh  !  to  think  of  the 
slain  Lamb,  laying  judgment  to  the  line,  and  righteousness 
to  the  plummet.  To  think  of  the  pierced,  rent  and  bleed- 
ing Saviour,  reigning  like  a  king,  and  distributing  justice 
like  an  enthroned  sovereign.  And  yet  it  shall  be  so. 
From  the  agony  and  bloody  sweat  of  the  G-arden  ;  from  the 
thorny  crown  and  mocking  robe  of  the  hall  of  judgment; 


from  the  gall  and  vinegar  and  intense  anguish  (Jtihe  cross; 
and  from  the  solitude  and  silence  and  armed  men  of  the 
sepulchre,  Jesus  shall  come  up  to  regal  dignity  and  judi- 
cial greatness.  "  Before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  na- 
tions/' Think  of  that.  Nations  that  rose,  flourished  and 
fell,  before  the  walls  of  Babylon  were  built,  or  Greek  and 
Trojan  arms  struggled  upon  the  plains  of  Troy;  nations 
that  developed  the  resources  of  commerce,  before  the  ships 
of  the  Argonauts  had  sailed  on  their  adventurous  path ; 
nations  that  were  excellent  in  science  and  distinguished 
in  art,  before  Plato  and  Pythagoras  learned  the  elements 
of  philosophy  in  the  land  of  astrology  and  power  ;  and  na- 
tions that  had  accumulated  a  literature,  and  established 
their  universities  and  schools,  long  before  the  epics  of 
Homer  were  written, or  the  Sophists  had  gathered  their  pupils 
in  the  shady  groves  of  the  Athenians.  "  And  I  saw  the 
dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before  God."  Small  politi- 
cians, spending  their  lives  in  demagogueism  and  avarice, 
shall  stand  before  him.  Small  speculators,  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  necessities  of  their  fellow  men,  and  draining 
the  very  life  blood  from  the  veins  of  their  country,  shall 
stand  before  him.  Small  grocers,  seducing  the  hearts  of 
our  unwary  countrymen,  and  blasting  the  manhood  of  the 
land  with  their  distilled  ruin,  shall  stand  before  him.  And 
small  sinners,  too  little  and  mean  to  hate  Christ  openly 
and  oppose  him  boldly,  shall  stand  before  him.  And  the 
great  of  the  earth,  they  who  have  shone  like  suns,  and 
dazzled  like  meteors,  shall  see  the  face  of  the  Judge. 
Great  statesmen,  who  have  illustrated  the  genius  of  free 
institutions,  and  contended  for  the  rights  of  -free  govern- 
ment, shall  stand  in  their  places  before  the  throne.  Im- 
mortal poets,  radiant  with  inspiration  and  overflowing  with 
song,  shall  come  to  the  feet  of  the  Lamb.  And  gallant, 
patriot  soldiers,  who  went  down  beneath  the  red  tide  of 
war,  waving  their   swords  and  cheering  their  heroic  men 


to  the  very  last,  shall  stand  in  solemn  array  before  the 
Captain  of  our  Salvation.  It  shall  be  a  time  of  close  scru 
tiny.  It  shall  be  an  occasion  of  unflinching  administra- 
tive firmness.  It  shall  be  a  season,  when  consciences  shall 
arouse  from  slumber,  and  books  shall  be  opened,  and  strong 
men  shall  quake  and  toss  like  a  line  of  battle  ships  in  a 
storm. 

Moreover  this  Great  Day  shall  be  distinguished  by  a 
swift  and  complete  destruction,  or  rather  renovation  of  the 
physical  universe.  Mountains  shall  disappear  as  by  the 
touch  of  an  enchanter's  wand.  Seas  shall  be  dried  up 
as  by  a  single  breath  of  the  wrath  of  God.  Rivers 
shall  be  bared  to  their  lowest  channels  as  by  a  single  flash 
of  the  judgment  fires.  Navies  shall  be  swallowed  up  as 
by  the  first  gust  of  a  universal  storm.  And  then  the  tall 
monuments  of  men,  with  the  marks  of  genius  upon  their 
foreheads,  and  the  wrecks  of  generations  at  their  feet, 
shall  pass  away  "like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  ■  vision." 
Mausolea,  cenotaphs  and  tombs  shall  crumble.  Splended 
palatial  edifices  shall  go  to  ashes  in  an  instant.  Rail-roads, 
docks,  canals  and  factories  shall  be  blotted  out.  The  tem- 
ples of  learning  and  the  halls  of  education  and  refinement 
shall  be  swept  away.  The  great  theatres  of  deliberative 
and  legislative  power  shall  collapse  as  by  the  tread  of  an 
earthquake.  And  then,  the  unexplored  regions  above  us 
shall  be  cut  by  the  flaming  chariot  wheels  of  the  divine 
presence.  Hear  the  word  of  the  prophet.  "  And  all  the 
host  of  heaven  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  heavens  shall  be 
rolled  together  as  a  scroll :  and  all  their  host  shall  fall 
down,  as  the  leaf  falleth  from  the  vine,  and  as  a  falling  fig 
from  the  fig  tree.J'  The  planets  shall  dash  wildly  from 
their  orbits.  The  moon  shall  be  turned  into  blood.  And 
the  stars  shall  be  unsphered  and  rejected  from  giving 
their  light,  as  the  New  Jerusalem  descends  from  God  out 
of -heaven. 


Now  in  all  this  scene  of  dissolution  and  of  judgment, 
there  shall  be  the  highest  wisdom,  and  the  most  exact 
impartiality.  Human  builders  may  construct  their  imper- 
fect models. of  mechanical  ingenuity  and  art,  and,  in  a 
moment  of  reckless  and  unguarded  temper,  break  them  in 
pieces.  Human  judges  may  be  swayed  by  ambition  or 
the  lust  of  gain,  and  visit  injustice  upon  the  subjects  of 
their  official  action.  But  not  so  with  God.  When  he 
touches  the  judgment  torch  to  the  magnificent,  physical 
framework  which  he  has  created,  he  does  it  deliberately, 
wisely,  and  with  a  purpose.  When  he  assembles  his  re- 
sponsible creatures  before  "the  great,  white  throne,"  his 
administration  isjust.and  his  decisions  are  spotless.  Depend 
upon  it,  there  can  be  no  question  at  this  point.  We  had 
better  dispute  the  divine  purity  in  reference  to  any  other 
matter,  than  this  of  the  great  renovation  and  final  reck- 
oning. Ail  the  rules  of  human  responsibility,  all  the  at- 
tributes of  the  divine  character,  and  all  the  developments 
of  individual  existence,  look  to  this  absorbing  time.  God 
is  pledged  to  make  himself  no  respecter  of  persons,  as  he 
shall  distribute  his  punishments  and  rewards.  And  hu- 
man faith,  for  the  security  of  its  own  hopes,  is  compelled 
to  anchor  itself  upon  the  divine  pledges  and  guarantees. 

But  wherein  shall  the  Wrath  of  God  be  most  fearfully 
made  manifest.  In  his  reprobation  of  sin.  Sin  is  the  great 
enemy  of  his  kingdom.  It  is  contradictory  to  his  charac- 
ter. It  flung  his  angels  out  of  heaven.  It  corrupted  the 
hearts  of  his  first  earthly  intelligences.  It  blasted  the  in- 
nocence of  the  Garden.  And  from  that  time  until  now, 
it  has  been  busy  with  the  hopes,  joys  and  energies  of 
men.  It  has  impoverished  the  spirituality  of  the  church- 
es. It  has  beggared  the  enjoyments  of  the  saints.  It 
has  subverted  the  triumphs  of  the  cross,  It  has  slain 
the  bodies  of  the  martyrs.     It  has    poured   out  the  blood 


of  missionaries  and  apostles.  It  has  turned  the  rage  of 
earth  and  hell  against  the  ^ates  of  God.  It  has  mar- 
shalled its  legions  to  blot  out  the  name  of  Christ.  It 
has  desecrated  altars,  and  destroyed  sanctuaries.  And  it 
has  sent  through  the  jaws  of  darkness  an  unceasing  tide 
of  human  souls,  to  desolate  bereaved  hearthstones  with 
sorrow,  to  fill  the  eye  of  the  redeemed  with  pity,  and  to  jar 
the  walls  of  perdition  with  wailings.  And  can  God  rise 
up  to  the  judgment  of  sin  with  a  gentle  countenance  ? 
Nay,  verily.  He  shall  come  fbrth  like  a  lion  roaring  for 
his  prey.  He  shall  stand  up  like  a  man  of  war  snatching- 
hi s  weapons  for  the  hug  of  death.  The  very  heat  and 
flame  and  thunder  of  a  dissolving  universe  shalll  be  in- 
significant as  God  launches  his  wrath  against  sin.  The 
rending  Of  the  rocks,  falling  of  the  mountains,  drying  up 
of  the  seas,  and  sweeping  away  of  human  pomp  and  pow- 
er, will  seem  unimportant  when  compared  with  that  great 
exercise  of  divine  strength  and  vengeance,  which  shall 
shake  this  universal  frame  when  God  arises  to  the  judg- 
ment of  iniquity.  Then  sin  shall  be  seen  in  its  true  col-  O 
ors.  No  more  shining  as  an  angel  of  light.  Its  gaudy  ^p , 
trappings  shall  be  torn  off.  Its  silver  slippers  shall  be 
laid  aside.  It  shall  be  seen  as  the  blackest,  vilest  and 
most  venomous  monster.  Millions  of  witnesses  shall  tes- 
tify to  its  terrible  character.  The  very  earth  itself,  as  it 
.rocks,  blazes  and  disappears,  shall  utter  its  condemnation. 
And  God,  through  all  the  trackless  regions  of  his  might 
and  wrath,  shall  pour  down  his  inexhaustible  anger  upon 
it. 

"  Also,  in  the  destruction  of  the  finally  impenitent,  shall 
the  overwhelming  terrors  of  the  Almighty  be  displayed. 
The  sinner  knows  not  what  a  reckless  game  he  is  playing. 
He  is  trifling  with  the  hand  that  shaped  him  from  the 
dust.     He  is  procrastinating  with   the   power  that  filled 


op 


him  witli  a  soul.  He  is  trampling  upon  the  love  that- 
ransomed  him  from  chains.  He  is  spurning  at  the  blood 
that  kept  him  out  of  hell.  And  can  he  expect,  under  these 
aggravated  circumstances,  to  escape  the  torturing,  con- 
suming wrath  of  God.  Nay,  verilv.  God  shall  lay  his  aveng- 
ing fingers  upon  him  with  a  thrill,  that  shall  freeze  his  ex- 
istence like  a  dead  man.  He  shall  destroy  him  because  he 
neglected  the  day  of  salvation;  because  he  resisted  the 
influences  of  truth ;  because  he  quenched  the  strivings  of 
the  Spirit ;  because  he  stopped  his  ears  and  turned  his 
back  upon  the  heralds  of  the  cross;  because  he  rejected 
the  precious  overtures  of  the  Son  of  Man.  The  destruc- 
tion of  the  body,  it  matters  not  how  fearfully  it  may  be 
destroyed,  will  be  as  nothing  compared  with  that  destruc- 
tion. The  delicate  limbs  may  be  stretched  upon  an  in- 
quisitorial rack.  The  slender  bones  may  be  wedged  and 
pressed  between  the  instruments  of  death ;  and  the  sen- 
sitive flesh  may  be  scorched  and  consumed  at  the  furious 
burnings  of  the  stake  ;  and  yet  all  these  physical  suffer- 
ings will  be  comparatively  small  when  placed  by  the  side 
of  the  ruin  of  the  soul.  That  destruction"  shall  consist  in 
the  swallowing  up  of  the  immortal  mind,  with  all  its 
wondrous  faculties,  soaring  ambition,  and  unflagging  ener- 
gies, in  eternal  night.  It  shall  consist  in  the  snapping 
asunder  of  all  the  cables  of  friendship  and  affection,  which 
moored  us  pleasantly,  and  securely  in  the  enchanted  har- 
bors of  this  life.  It  shall  consist  in  the  stranding  of  our 
hopes,  plans  and  prospects  in  the  midst  of  a  wilder  storm 
than  ever  yet  rent  the  sails  of  commerce,  or  buried  the 
lives  and  fortunes  of  merchant-princes  under  the  sea.  It 
shall  consist  in  an  unending  banishment  from  God,  from 
friends,  from  glory  and  from  home ;  for  heaven  is  home. 
And  it  shall  consist  in  the  subjection  of  both  body  and 
spirit  to  the  gnawings  of  a  worm  that  never  dies,  and  the 
burnings  of  a  flame  that  is  not  quenched.     And  is  not 


10 

this  wrath — wratli  intense,  unmeasured,  unspeakable? 
0,  who  can  take  in  the  signification  of  eternity,  when  that 
eternity  is  filled  with  blackness,  and  loaded  down  with 
gloom  for  the  condemned  sinner's  soul!  What  unknown 
uavigator  can  fathom  the  wild  waves  of  that  burning 
ocean,  where  not  a  single  ray  of  mercy  can  ever  shine  up- 
on the  broken  heart  of  the  tossed  and  ruined  mariner? 
And  yet  this  is  the  way  in  which  God  shall  deal  with  the 
proud,  insolent  and  uncompromising  reprobate.  He  shall 
leave  him  not  a  foot  of  ground,  upon  which  to  base  an 
argument,  petition  or  apology.  He  shall  fling  to  him  not 
a  single  plank,  upon  which  to  buoy  up  his  despairing  spir- 
it, while  his  fortunes  are  going  down,  and  his  pleasures 
are  beino-  wrecked  around  him.  But  from  first  to  last,  he 
shall  make  him  the  victim  of  his  indignation  and  anger, 
because  he  heard  not  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  and  re- 
fused all  the  intercessions  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

And  then,  the  wrath  of  God  shall  be  displayed  in  the 
condemnation  and  punishment  of  the  fallen  angels.  For 
says  the  Apostle  Jude,  "  The  angels  which  kept  not 
their  first  estate,  but  left  their  own  habitation,  he  hath 
reserved  in  everlasting  chains  under  darkness  unto  the 
judgment  of  the  great  day."  Of  course,  we  cannot  tell 
who  these  rebellious  spirits  were.  Neither  can  we  fix  up- 
on the  sin  which  uncrowned,  degraded  and  destroyed  them. 
But  this  one  thing  we  do  know,  that  they  are  reserved  in 
the  blackness  of  their  guilt  for  the  day  of  wonders  and  for 
the  God  of  doom.  0  what  a  time  that  will  be.  The  very 
devils  must  give  up  their  cells,  their  burning  fetters,  and 
come  to  judgment.  The  thrones,  principalities  and  pow- 
ers of  darkness  must  pale  and  shiver  before  the  face  of  the 
Great  Judge.  The  agents  and  emissaries  of  guilt,  which  have 
"thronged  the  air,  darkened  heaven  and  ruled  this  lower 
world,"  must  be  gathered  by  the  judgment  trump  to  the 
flaming  bar.     And  God,  the  great  God,  the  unchangeable 


11 

God,  shall  smite  them  like  a  withered  pine,  and  consume 
them  like  dry  stubble.  It  will  only  increase  the  measure 
of  their  bitterness  and  pain,  that  they  were  once  citizens 
of  heaven,  when  "  the  morning  stars  sung  together,  and 
all  the  sons  of  Grocl  shouted  for  joy."  The  very  fact  that 
they  were  once  nearest  perhaps  to  the  eternal  throne,  that 
their  harps  made  the  loudest  and  sweetest  music,  that  their 
wings  impelled  them  on  the  swiftest  and  noblest  errands, 
and  that  their  faces  and  crowns  shone  with  the  greatest 
splendor,  will  only  make  them  more  shining  marks  for  the 
the  shafts  of  the  divine  vengeance.  Grod  shall  hold  them 
up  to  the  scorn  of  the  assembled  universe.  He  shall  pro- 
claim, "these  are  the  evil  spirits  which  songht  to  dethrone 
their  king,  which  struggled  to  divide  heaven,  which  cor- 
rupted the  innocence  and  withered  the  bright  fields  of 
Paradise."  And  he  shall  give  them  over  to  the  fury  of 
his  thunders  forevermore,  without  the  possibility  of  a  plea 
of  salvation. 

But  wherein  shall  the  G-lory  of  the  Q-reat  Day  be  most 
impressively  revealed.  Why  most  unquestionably  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.  Hundreds  of  generations,  even 
back  to  the  first  inhabitants  of  earth,  shall  burst  the  cap- 
tivity of  thegrave,and  come  forth.  The  caverns  of  the  great 
deep  shall  be  opened,  and  the  rushing  tides  shall  roll  their 
dead  to  shore.  The  cemeteries  of  proud  cities,  filled  with 
sculptured  marble,  and  adorned  with  the  master  pieces  of 
affluence  and  taste,  shall  echo  to  the  tread  of  arisen  mul- 
titudes. The  quiet  graveyard  of  the  secluded  hamlet, 
shall  be  vacated  by  its  long  forgotten  sleepers.  And  even 
the  bridle-paths  of  the  dim  forest,  and  the  silent  groves  of 
trackless  and  untenanted  wastes  shall  send  forth  their  rep- 
resentatives to  the  august  revealings  of  G-od's  great  day. 
0  !  what  a  scene  of  thrilling  interest  that  will  be  I  And 
then,what  is  better  than  all  else,  the  buried  saints  of  Christ 
shall  rise  in  the  likeness  of  their  Lord.     Their  bones  may 


12 

be  scattered  at  the  grave's  mouth.  Their  dust  may  have 
been  driven  by  the  winds.  Their  names  may  have  been 
graven  upon  the  sands.  And  yet,  blessed  be  God,  like  the 
slain  in  the  valley  of  the  Prophet,  when  the  breath  of  the 
Almighty  comes  upon  them,  bone  shall  come  to  bone,  the 
sinews  and  flesh  shall  be  laid  upon  them,  and  the  House 
of  Israel  shall  live.  The  poor  missionary,  who  struggled 
with  the  discouragements  of  his  destiny,  submitted  to 
hunger,  heat  and  cold  that  he  might  carry  the  gospel  to 
the  heathen,  and  at  last  went  down  unwept  and  unre- 
membered  in  a  foreign  land,  shall  stand  up  -  in  the  image 
of  his  King.  The  faithful  pastor, who  spent  himsef  freely 
for  the  religious  culture  of  the  people,  and  fell  at  his  .post 
in  the  midst  of  his  activity  and  zeal,  "shall  come  again 
with  rejoicing  bringing  his  sheaves  with  him."  The  hum- 
ble peasant,  who  pursued  the  quiet  routine  of  charity  and 
faith,  living  upon  the  grace  of  the  gospel  and  supported 
by  the  comforts  of  the  cross,  shall  leave  the  pine  coffin  of 
his  sepulchre  with  the  rapture  and  the  aspirations  of 
heaven  in  his  soul.  And  the  pious  soldier,  who  was  slar 
in  the  conflict  of  battle,  while  the  storm  of  death,  was  ragin 
fearfully  around  him,  and  the  blood  of  patriots  and  herot>. 
was  flowing  like  water,  shall  arise  from  his  gory  bed  to 
be  clothed  with  the  garments  of  immortality.  Truly  the 
divine  power  and  goodness  shall  be  conspicuously  dis- 
played, in  rending  the  bars  of  the  tomb,  and  in  dissolving 
the  empire  of  death  from  the  bodies  of  the  saints. 

Also  in  the  creation  of  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth 
shall  the  glory  of  God  be  most  strikingly  made  manifest. 
The  old  order  of  things  shall  be  entirely  changed.  Phys- 
ical laws  shall  be  abolished.  The  succession  of  the  sea- 
sons shall  be  broken  up.  The  watch-fires  of  the  sky  and 
the  beacon  lights  of  centuries  shall  be  extinguished. — 
Material  deformities  and  corruptions  shall  be  purged 
away.     And  in  the  place  of  all  this,  we  shall  have  spirit- , 


13 

ual,  celestial  and  eternal  habitations  fitted  for  the  occupan- 
cy of  God  and  of  the  angels.  We  shall  walk  upon  streets 
that  shine  with  the  lustre  of  gold.  We  shall  gaze  upon 
mansions  that  have  been  wrought  into  the  transparent 
delicacy  of  crystal,  and  resound  with  the  shoutings  of  the 
redeemed.  We  shall  stroll  through  immortal  fields  and 
gardens,  fragrant  with  flowers  that  are  fadeless  and  musical 
with  songs  that  are  unceasing.  No  more  rugged  rocks  and 
foaming  torrents,  to  cast  the  shadow  of  danger  and  desola- 
tion over  the  brightest  landscapes.  No  more  dreary  lowlands 
and  miasmatic  regions,  to  chill  and  wither  the  body  with 
disease  and  suffering.  No  more  poisonous  minerals  and  veg- 
itables,  to  destroy  the  elasticity  of  health,  and  to  cause  life 
itself  to  be  a  burden.  But  from  gate  to  palace  and  from 
plain  to  plain,  it  shall  be  one  universal  masterpiece  of  re- 
finement and  beauty,  and  the  very  morning  stars  them- 
selves and  the  shouting  sons  of  God  shall  exult  in  the 
new  creation.  And  as  if  to  make  this  eternal  residence 
jjompletely  enchanting,  it  shall  be  the  dwelling-place  of 
t^ghteousness.  Sin  shall  be  excluded  from  it  by  immu- 
ivaMe  decrees.  No  foot-fall  of  iniquity  shall  ever  be  heard 
in  its  radiant  portals.  No  invasion  of  guilt  shall  ever  blast 
the  beauty  that  blooms  in  its  cloudless  clime.  But  from 
th  centre  of  this  grand,  spiritual  universe,  out  to  its  far- 
thest boundaries  of  living  trees  and  healing  streams,  it 
shall  be  one  unbroken  reign  of  purity  and  truth.  Every 
shout  of  praise,  every  voice  of  song,  every  word  of  con- 
gratulation, and  every  deed  of  love  shall  be  full  of  the  soul 
of  righteousness ;  and  not  oae  among  all  the  ransomed  of 
the  Lord  but  shall  manifest  and  enjoy  this  state. 

And  farther  still,  the  glory  of  the  Great  Day  shall  be 
illustrated  in  the  crowning  of  the  saints  with  their  final 
and  long  looked  for  reward.  "  And  these  shall  go  away 
into  life  eternal."  Not  the  evanescant  life  of  physical  ex- 
istence.    Not  the  life  that  flows  through   the   veins  and 


THE  DAY  OPIWEATH.  PL  M. 


1  The  day  of  wrath,  that  dreadful  day, 
When  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away  S 
What  power  shall  be  the  sinner's  stay  ? 
•How  shall  he  meet  that  dreadful  day— 


2  When,  shriv'ling  like  a  parched  scroll, 
The  flamirg  heavens  together  roll ; 
And,  louder  yet,  and  yet  more  dread, 
Swells  the  high  trump  that  wakes  the  dead  ? 


3  0  on  that  day,  that  wrathful  day, 

When  man  to  judgment  wakes  from  clay5r 
Be  thou,  O  Christ,  the  sinner's  stay, 
Though  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away 


